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Monday, May 14, 2018

I kind of thought I would stop doing these month updates when Finn turned one, but I like them and I still feel like he changes so much each month that I'm going to keep doing them. Maybe I'll stop when he turns two? Who knows!

Anyways, month 13 was a fun one!! Finn took swimming lessons, we traveled to Portland and most importantly, we slept through the night consistently!!! He's become much more opinionated and points and says "uh" to anything he wants. He loves his blue car and will ride in it for what seems like forever. He's standing for a few seconds at a time and we are working on eventually walking. Let's hope it comes soon!!

Eating: Not much has changed here. He's a great eater when he likes what is in front of him. He is completely weaned off of breast feeding (freedom!!!) and loves whole milk so much that we should probably just get a cow. He's showing a lot of interest in using a spoon, so we practice with that with oatmeal. It usually just results in a huge mess, but every once and a while, some oatmeal makes it into his mouth.

What are you looking at?

Sleeping: We are all sleeping through the night and we are all happier for it. Our wake up times vary between 5:30 (and lots of moaning) to 6:30, but we are all thankful to be sleeping through the night.

Noises: So many noises, so little understanding. There is lots of "ah" and "dah" when he is pointing to things, but no sounds that sound like words.

Milestones: The biggest milestone this month is definitely standing. He's not doing it for very long, but it's happening and it's only a matter of time before it's more intentional and for a longer duration. He is also drinking out of a glass when I hold it up for him, which is maybe his favorite thing. This usually results in all of my water disappearing before I get to drink any, but it's fun to watch! As I mentioned before, he's trying to use silverware with minimal success, but he understands what he's supposed to do, so that's a step in the right direction.

Likes and Dislikes: His favorite thing this month was his blue car. Y'all we created a monster. It's in our garage and every time we go to get in our real car, he sees it and wants to go for a ride. If we bring it inside, it's what he puts things in and is never far away from it. He also loves to dance and LOVES music. He will bop back and forth whenever he hears "music," which can be defined as music from Alexa, Mom singing or the smoke alarm going off. He loves it all! He also loves to "help" in the kitchen. I've let him hold a spoon while mixing and it's his favorite thing. Finn's biggest dislike this month was swim lessons. He tolerated them for the first few weeks, but once he was put under water, they were quickly added to the dislike list. He has also become more opinionated and more determined, which has led to more meltdowns, mainly because I refuse to let him hold things like knives or touch things like the hot oven. So I guess I'm on the dislike list sometimes, but I know I make the likes list the majority of the time. You win some, you lose some.

Nicknames: Finn, Finny, Buddy, Bud, Buddy Bear, Finny Bear

Clothing Size: Onesies are definitely 18 months (his belly fills them out!), but pants are still 12 months. I put 18 month shorts on him today and they were sagging, but I refuse to buy any 12 month shorts because I know they won't fit him by the end of the summer.

Diaper Size: Four

Height: 30 inches (he had a growth spurt!)

Weight: 20 lbs 8.75 oz

Travel: Portland for Mother's Day

Teeth: Still seven

Finn continues to amaze me as he discovers the world around him. We are so grateful for this little guy and his enthusiasm for life. Love you, bud!

Thursday, May 3, 2018

We got the keys to our house, had our furniture delivered and mostly unpacked just in time to celebrate Finn's first birthday!! I wasn't sure how much of a party we would have since we didn't know that many people, but first birthdays deserve a celebration (mainly for Mom and Dad!), so we figured we'd invite everyone we know, get some cupcakes and sing happy birthday to our favorite one year old.

Mike and I had the Submarine Birthday Ball on Finn's actual birthday, so we actually had his party the day after (Sunday). I felt kind of bad that we didn't do much on his birthday and left him with a babysitter, but he doesn't know any different and he won't remember, so I don't feel THAT bad. We settled on a brunch birthday party since Finn loves waffles and we love mimosas ;)

We like to dress up for first birthdays :)

The guests arrived around eleven and we were happy that so many people came! We had a couple of friends from Connecticut who are stationed here with us, as well as a few of Mike's friends from Hawaii who are now stationed here, so we had a decent crowd! I made waffles and bacon (in the oven...guys, this is a game changer!) as well as some fruit to eat, along with coffee and mimosas to drink. We let people mingle for about an hour before we sang songs and ate cupcakes.

We let Finn eat his cupcake first, which was as funny as expected. Finn is pretty hesitant when it comes to textures and foods, but I figured icing wouldn't be an issue. It took him a little while to figure it out, but once he realized how sweet and delicious it was, he dug right in! Go Finn!

This one cracks me up. He looks like he's thinking "What's the big deal? So what if I got a little icing everywhere?"

One of the hardest parts about the military life is that we aren't near our family and friends to celebrate holidays and birthdays. I was extremely worried that we wouldn't have anyone to celebrate Finn's birthday with since we just moved to Washington, but our friends were wonderful and really made Finn feel celebrated (even if he had no idea what was going on). We love our little guy and are so grateful for such a wonderful first year of Finn!

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

If you've been following along and made it this far, props to you. It hasn't been consistent and it's probably been a little boring at times (just like our trip!), but it hopefully was interesting and the pictures were hopefully pretty!

Our last few days weren't the most exciting or touristy. The big highlight was stopping in Salt Lake City to see one of Mike's friends from high school. We also stopped in Boise, which is supposedly up and coming. Unfortunately, we had spent all day driving and Finn was WIRED, so going out to dinner was a poor idea and we paid for it by having a child who refused to sit in a high chair. Oh well. I feel like I can't complain because he was such a good traveler for the majority of the trip. Boise was cool though. Such a good stop.

One last Chick-fil-a (the closest one to us is at least a half hour away)

This was fun.

We spent a lot of time in hotels and luckily one had a pool!! Finn and Mike went for a little dip :)

When we finally made it to Washington, we all let out a sigh of relief and I may or may not have cheered. Even though we still had a few hours to go, it was still pretty exciting. Our GPS would say "welcome to (insert state)" every time we crossed a state border and this was definitely a well-received welcome!

Driving across country was an item on my bucket list and I didn't know if I'd actually ever be able to actually check it off. It was an incredible experience and it made me realize how beautiful our country is. I also feel like I learned a ton about the people and the different cultures of our country (people in the south really are extremely friendly). There were definitely some things that got old (eating out, living hotels, the car), but at the same time, I feel like we could have spent an entire driving and stopping and still enjoyed the trip. It was such an amazing experience and I can't wait to do it again when we move back to the East Coast (fingers crossed!!).

Friday, April 27, 2018

A week into our cross country trip, we realized that we had an extra day. We originally planned on spending a night in Seattle, but decided we would rather spend that somewhere along the way, instead, and man am I glad we did. My parents went to Zion last year and LOVED it and everyone we know who has been raved about their time there, so we knew we couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend the day hiking around. Luckily, Finn was feeling 1000x better thanks to the antibiotics. Plus, we figured some fresh air was better than spending the day in a dirty hotel room, so we set out to explore Zion.

Since we weren't staying near the park, we drove into the park and parked there. I HIGHLY recommend doing this if you can (or at least doing that drive at some point) because the view as you drive in is awe inspiring. Both Mike and I just kept saying "this is so cool!!" The only drawback to driving into the park (as opposed to taking a shuttle in) is that parking is extremely limited. We were able to find a parking spot and the shuttles within the park are easy to use, so we were on our way.

Since we wanted to keep things simple at first and make sure Finny was feeling okay, we started out easy and did one of their paved trails. Finn was happy as a clam hanging out in the backpack, eating a granola bar, and waving to every single person that walked by (even if they weren't looking his way). Clearly, the medicine had kicked in because he was living his best life.

So you can't see them in this picture, but there were tiny little dots that were moving down the side. Turns out, they were rapellers. It was pretty fun to watch them move down the rock, but it confirmed my belief that I will never be doing that. Hard no.

The trail ends at a river with a great backdrop, so we asked a guy to take our picture. We saw a bunch of guys in wet suits walking and they were planning to walk through the river, which is a popular hike. In the summer, the river gets pretty crowded with people, but the air was still cool and the water was chilly, so these guys were the only ones we saw.

Finn waving to the camera!

I just couldn't get over how beautiful it is!

We ventured off of the paved path and followed the river about halfway back (that ran along the paved path), but we couldn't resist taking a selfie!

Since Finn was in such a good mood, we decided to keep going and did one of the moderate hikes. The moderate hikes aren't particularly difficult, but they aren't paved and I'm guessing little kids might have a hard time because it was a little steep at times. That being said, the elevation allowed for some great views!

We spent a total of four hours in the park hiking and I would venture to say that we both would have stayed another night if our schedule would have allowed. We only did two trails and feel like we barely scratched the surface. The Grand Canyon was beautiful and I have no regrets about going, but we both agreed that this was completely unexpectedly awe inspiring. I am so glad we added this last minute and I know it is somewhere we will be back when Finn is older.

Waiting for the shuttle. Finn discovered his dislike for grass. "Mom, what is this scratchy stuff? I'm not touching it!"